7 Law-Related Internships

Whether you intern at home, or move to another city, getting work experience for the summer can be great fun. Here are 7 of thousands of law-related internships you can pursue in 2011:

1. Independent Diplomat Internship
2. Public Policy Internship
3. Protect Asylum Seekers Internship
4. Labor and Housing Internship
5. Marketing and Communications Internship
6. Research Assistant
7. GLBT Rights Internship

Disney Characters Explain Copyright

Why can a professor copy an article for class, but copying an mp3 is illegal? Did Weird Al Yankovich need Chamillionaire‘s permission to record “White and Nerdy“? The law guiding these situations is a part of copyright law which makes some unauthorized uses legal. Here is it explained, by Disney* characters:

*Disney is famously problematic when it comes to copyright.

5 Lawyer Graphs

These are all from the indomitable GraphJam.

 

Crimes in Lawrence, KS by year (1999 - 2006), Many Eyes

see more Funny Graphs

see more Funny Graphs

3 Pittsburgh Non-Profits with Law-Related Missions

Volunteering and interning can be great ways to watch practicing attorneys in action, determine in which field you would like to work, and do real good for real people who need your skills. Here are three places where you can start volunteering next semester:

• Confere Inservitus: human trafficking / out-reach, blogging, start-up work.
• Planned Parenthood of Western PA: sexual health, women’s rights, reproductive rights / escorting, filing, outreach.
• Pittsburgh Filmakers: art, film, copyright / display creation, outreach, writing, teaching.

Got suggestions? Type ’em into that there comments box.

Google Talks About the Challenges of Maintaining Copyright Online

The scale of content production online is astounding: 1 trillion links, more than a day of video uploaded every hour, all of it copyrighted. If you were copyright queen3 for a day, how would you regulate the internet?

Quick Source for Logic Puzzles/Pain

Unless you’ve been blessed by the LSAT gods, you probably find the logic puzzels on the test a bit of a trial. Designing corsages with 4 types of flowers and a very picky client is tough enough for a florist–it’s ugly for a poor wanna-be law student trying to get through the morning.

I wish I could bless you and let you through the test without doing any work–but until I get said powers, here are some practice logic games to get started on.

Law School of the Week: Emory Law School

Emory Law School, located in Atlanta, Georgia, offers one of the country’s strongest programs in the field. With a faculty of diverse backgrounds and an exciting urban environment, students at Emory can take advantage of many opportunities both inside and outside the classroom.

Being in the “top 25” by various rankings, it’s no surprise that Emory’s acceptance rate is a low 23%. While LSAT scores and GPA are important factors of the admissions process, an applicant’s personal statement is one way that their level of responsibility and sense of ethics required for the field may be assessed. Students interested in the school should definitely consider applying early, as this can increase their chances of acceptance. Furthermore, students should not be afraid to be persistent in pursuing their interest in Emory, even if they are waitlisted.

Tuition has increased slightly in recent years at Emory. However, their large endowment has enabled the number of scholarships offered to increase accordingly, and in many cases, Emory offers even more substantial aid in comparison to other similarly ranked schools.

Just like the curriculum of most law school programs today, students take required coursework in areas such as civil procedure, legal methods, and contracts during their first year. In their second and third years, students develop their trial techniques through further coursework and moot court. While preparing for job interviews and applying to law reviews and journals, students also begin to specialize in their area of interest. Emory offers a wide range of specialties, including human rights, environmental, and Constitutional law. Their program in international and comparative law is particularly strong.

Students at Emory can also pursue joint degrees in areas such as business, divinity, and theological studies. For studying abroad, it offers programs in Budapest, Sydney, Hamburg, and Seoul, to name a few.

Upon graduation, about 88.9% of Emory’s students are employed within nine months. Most end up working in law firms, but some end up working in government or public interest positions. In terms of geographic placement, around 80% of graduates find work in the South Atlantic region and Middle Atlantic region.

As for the bar exam, an estimated 94% of Emory graduates pass it.

All in all, law school critics and current students agree that Emory is a top law school offering many opportunities. Due to its strong curriculum, diverse faculty, and appealing environment of the city of Atlanta, many students find it enjoyable. Although graduates face the unpleasant reality of debt, most students are optimistic that their education will lead them to worthwhile careers that will more than compensate for this.

Quick Facts

U.S. News & World Report Ranking: 20^th
LSAT Median: 165
GPA Median: 3.55
Application Deadline: March 1
Application fee: $70
Entering class size: 224
Yearly Tuition: $41,376
Bar passage rate in Georgia: 93.6%
Percent of graduates employed 9 months after graduation: 88.9%
Average private firm salary: $116,155

Contact Information

Emory University School of Law
Office of Admission Gambrell Hall
1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322-2770
(404) 727-6801
admission@law.emory.edu
http://www.law.emory.edu

Sources: http://www.top-law-schools.com/emory-law-school.html#Admissions

Lawyers and Vote Fraud

Being a lawyer is more than a day job–it is a qualification for a wide range of other public-service-related jobs. For example, being an election observer.

How to Really Read a Law School’s Website

We’ve all been there. You’re perusing a school’s website, reading, and wondering to yourself, “How much of this can possibly be true?” You’re seeing statistics on class size and graduation rates, looking at law school rankings and reviews, and all you can wonder is whether you’re being given the old run-around. How do you know what to read into and what to take at surface value? After all, law schools are marketing.
Well, won’t you be happy to know that I intend to use this blog to impart some of the knowledge I’ve picked up in my search for law schools? Now isn’t that convenient?

So here goes:

1. Watch out for numbers. Numbers represent the hardcore facts in a law school’s information, so they comprise the bulk of the stuff you’ll read. Unfortunately, they’re also some of the hardest facts to check up on. To debunk the numbers, especially those like average class size and student to faculty ratio that you can compute yourself, do the math. Find the number of students and faculty members, and the number of classes offered each term, and do the math. These other numbers are readily available on the website. Other numbers, like graduation rates and acceptance rates, are published by the LSAC and organizations like it.

2. Check up on dates. To further debunk the numbers, make sure that the data you have is the most recent. When it comes to job placement and average graduate starting salary, especially, a lot of law schools would prefer you see numbers from 2007-2008, when the law job market was still high.

3. Look out for anywhere on the website current students are offering their opinions. If there’s a way you can e-mail someone, do it. Student blogs are the motherload. Students blogging about their law schools can be expected to be about half-honest. You know that they were chosen to blog because they like where they are, and you’ll never read a blog written by someone who has had a bad law school experience. The students who do blog, however, can tell you a lot about day-to-day life at that school. They’ll tell you about their classes, their professors, and their fellow students. Even if the website shows just quotes, they can be really valuable tidbits of information if you take them with a grain of salt.

4. Read the news that’s not on the school’s website. Many law schools post news stories on their home pages to show you what they and their alumni are up to. Go ahead and read those stories, but also google (or whatever search engine you prefer) the law school and the story to find out more.

5. Check out the page for the library and other current student resources. Law libraries are supposed to be some of the best in all universities, and the more resources they have for students and the more opportunities they have to talk to librarians, the more helpful (and good) they’ll be.

6. Check out the Facebook page, if there is one. See how quickly the school is responding to questions posted by other prospective students and check out the comments people leave. You can also look through pictures (though expect everyone to be smiling) and follow any links they may have posted.

Of course, there are tons more things you can do to debunk the myths posted online. These are only a few. But, the more carefully you read the better off you’ll be. And that’s good for both of us!

What Do the Rankings Really Mean? Part 2

Last week we talked about rankings and how US News and World Report comes up with them. This week, I want to explore what these rankings could mean to you and to your law school search. Before I do, I want you to know that in no way do I claim to know all about these things. I’m just your friendly Oyez! blogger, sifting through all the information on the internet so you don’t have to!

With that said, how important are the rankings? According to a new study by Kaplan, most of us think that they are VERY important. A full 86% of 1,383 students preparing to take the LSATs said that rankings were “very important” or “somewhat important.” Only 8% said that job placement was the most important factor. In this economy, isn’t that a little crazy? Elie Mystal sure thought so. In her Above the Law post (a fabulous blog that should be on every pre-law student’s reading list, btw!), she laments the obvious oversight of ignoring professional prospects when choosing a school to earn a professional degree.

And she may be on the right track. Yes, rankings are important. No, rankings aren’t going away. Of course, it would be silly to ignore them altogether, but at some point after landing your first job, you will be judged on your skills and your accomplishments at least in addition to rank. And my last post explained how the rankings are easily manipulated and are perpetuating a law school culture that hurts you, me, and the hundreds of law school grads who are floundering in debt that they simply cannot find the work to repay.

In short, this is serious stuff, simply too serious to let a number be the compass for your decision-making. We both want to get into a great law school, and many of us will, but when it comes down to it, if we don’t make it into the T-14 (and let’s face it, there’s not enough room at Yale for the both of us) the US News and World Report rankings become less and less important.

How, then, do we make this unyielding decision that will determine the course of the rest of our very lives?!? Consider other factors:

• Check out the other law school rankings out there. Wikipedia has a surprisingly good list.
• Ask yourself where you want to practice law. There are some kinds of law that you can only practice in New York, and then there are the kinds of law that you can practice anywhere. Also, the further you get from the T-14, the more important the regional influence of your law school becomes. If you want to practice on the West Coast, you should probably go to school on the West Coast, if for nothing else than for name-recognition and to tap into alumni networks.
• Determine what specialty interests you. Here is a comprehensive list of which law schools offer what, and there are tons of specialty rankings available by quick Google search.
• Ask yourself what you want your law school experience to be like. The Princeton Review offers 11 separate lists of rankings that assess competitiveness, quality of life, liberal vs. conservative, and more! You can also glean this information from law school visits, chats with students/alumni, and careful readings of law school websites.
• Be realistic. Where are you likely to be accepted? How far away do you want to be from home? What can you afford? If this last question resonates with you, check out The National Jurist’s Best Value Law Schools rankings. They assess cost, placement rates, and reported income to give you a sense of what you’re really getting.

In conclusion, if you want to go to the best law school that you get into, you are certainly not alone. And hey, maybe that really is the best thing for a CMU alum like you… but maybe it’s not. This is a big decision, too big to blindly follow the rankings. And getting the whole picture before putting down that deposit is #1 in my book.